The problem is that the large sum of money is not $500K, which is the amount written in the statute, or $500K "in the bank," which is different from $500K in net assets. It's some other much higher number that isn't in writing and is completely up to a single bureaucrat's discretion. (See http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/176_126/think-computer-.... "A department spokeswoman says the actual amount needed is 'more than $1 million.'" I was told in person that the number is between $1 million and $80 million.) Even the Senior Counsel for the California DFI admitted that this dynamic reminded him of an authoritarian regime--but he's powerless to change it.
I didn't "decide" to shut down my startup to protest a law. The law shut down the startup.
Corruption in the United States looks different than it does in other countries. In other countries bribes are overt and expected. In the United States bribes are written into the law to serve an upper class that prices legal services out of most people's reach.